Of men and Shikigami
by Blahsblah2001
Summary: This one isn't Koumyou, any more than the last, or the one before that. When your enemies look like your friends, how long until you can't trust anymore? Sanzo's POV, character death


Another dark night.  
Sanzo exhaled a long plume of white smoke. The moonlight hit it, making it glow in the blackness.  
Another night, somewhere in the infinite space between Chang'an and India.  
Night was okay. It usually signaled the end to another day of killing to survive. Sometimes he had to fight at night, and that was a pain in the ass.  
But tonight, no one was around.  
Except for one other person…  
"Hello, Kouryuu."  
Sanzo didn't even look at his master. He knew what the man looked like. Long hair, pulled back into a loose braid, the chakra a shimmering jewel on his forehead.  
Somewhere, some jerk- off youkai was laughing and rubbing his clawed hands together, in anticipation of the look on Sanzo's face when he realized his master was back from the dead.  
The look was unforthcoming as Sanzo silently lifted the gun and fired.  
What would the shikigami dissolve into this time? Beads? Paper airplanes? Majong tiles? Maybe a swarm of butterflies this time.  
Nothing interesting. Just dust. In the center, a smooth stone glittered.  
Idiot.  
Even if Sanzo had been young when his master died, he still remembered. A man was a man, but a shikigami was not.  
No one could ever be his master again.  
And nothing could change that, not even if he wanted to.  
"Bastard."  
Dropping the cigarette and grinding it into the dust, Sanzo retreated back inside.  
He didn't feel like dealing with this today.

* * *

It had been different the first time.  
Sanzo had barely been a Sanzo for a month. The temple he had left far behind him, searching out his master's lost sutra.  
Night, again.  
He had been almost afraid of the dark, alone-  
The demons were barely outside the circle of light the fire provided, and he knew it.  
He feigned calmness, knowing the sutra was safe on his shoulders. The Smith and Wesson he held in inexperienced fingers, admiring for one of the first times how beautiful it looked against the firelight.  
Something behind him entered the circle of light. He turned the gun on it, prepared to blow a youkai's head off.  
"Whoa, Kouryuu."  
His purple eyes widened. It was impossible.  
His master was dead-  
"M- master?"  
"It took me forever to find you. You've been moving fast since you left the temple. Where are you going?"  
Shame flooded sanzo, and he didn't meet his master's eyes.  
"I- they took one of your scriptures. I couldn't stop them. So I'm going to get it back."  
Koumyou looked confused, for only a minute.  
"The Seiten scripture is back at the temple. And you have the Maten, right?"  
"Yes."  
"Let me see."  
Long fingers moved toward the scripture, and Sanzo moved back, away from them.  
"What's wrong, why won't you let me see?"  
"You're not-"  
His master's usually pristine features twisted into a sneer, and Sanzo barely caught the glint of firelight on the knife before it bit into his skin. I didn't go deep, and Koumyou didn't get a second chance.  
One of the cruel ironies of life.  
That one hadn't dissolved.  
His master's wide, shocked eyes seemed to follow him until dawn, when he was finally able to move on.  
After that, Sanzo didn't trust anyone.

* * *

The gun was… around here, somewhere. Had he let go of it?  
A quick check revealed that both his bloodstained hands were empty.  
And he was in no position to go looking for the weapon.  
Where the hell was the monkey? It was his job to block stuff like that.  
Sanzo could barely move.  
Pain, he'd felt before, but this… this was totally new. He felt like passing out and throwing up at the same time. Vaguely it registered that if he did he would choke to death, but he didn't really care.  
What the hell had just hit him?  
He managed to sit up, resting most of his weight on shaky arms.  
That was a lot of blood. And there the gun was.  
Lines of red were left on the clean metal as his fingers brushed over it.  
"Sanzo?"  
Same old… he did not want to deal with this right now. Not at all.  
"Sanzo, get up."  
Right, right. Get up and follow the shikigami to some trap. Hey, maybe the thing would save him the trouble and jump off a cliff, hoping he would follow.  
"Piss off."  
"Sanzo, get up."  
Oh, wonderful. It had a voice track.  
Not even bothering to look, Sanzo fired half a dozen rounds at the apparition.  
A hand closed around his own, pulling lightly.  
Click, click. Out of ammo.  
The hand wasn't pulling hard at all, but he still felt himself move. He felt… lighter than he should have.  
Blood loss maybe?  
If it was blood loss he should be dizzy. And he shouldn't be able to stand up.  
But there had to be some reason for that huge friggin' light.  
"Come on. We have places to be."  
Wait a minute…  
Koumyou had called him Sanzo. All the others called him Kouryuu.  
Slowly, he turned to look at the man leading him toward the light.  
It wasn't a shikigami.  
And it wasn't a man.  
"Koumyou?"  
"Bingo. Come on. We're gonna be late."  
Sanoz sort of thought of looking back at the body lying on the ground.  
But that would just be corny.  
Looking back had never been his thing, anyway.

* * *

God, that was awful. I sorta wondered how many Koumyou- shikigamis Sanzo's killed. And then I decided he should die. I dunno. I'm bored, okay?


End file.
